#26. Read "Marley and Me"

I've been wanting to read this book since before the movie came out a couple of years ago.  I actually went and saw the movie in the theater before I read the book, which I really don't like doing, but oh well!

After seeing the movie, I had this book on my to-do list forever, and never got around to it.  So, adding it to my 101 list seemed like the perfect motivation to get to it!

Reading books is a little challenging for me, just because I don't have a lot of time to read, and when I do, I'm usually too tired to focus on reading, and would rather watch mindless TV.  My favorite way to read books is actually to listen to them on CD during my commute.  I don't have a long commute, but I can get a lot of listening done in a week.  Depending on how long the book is, I can usually listen to one in a week or two.

Marley and Me is a short book, in terms of CDs, because there were only 5 discs. Other books I've read have been as many as 16 or 17 CDs.  I LOVED listening to this book on CD because it was narrated by the author, John Grogan.  I love when the author reads their own books, because you can hear the emotion in their voice as they read their written words.  (Side note:  I felt this same way about Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, which I also listened to on CD).

I knew the story well, having seen the movie, and to my surprise, the movie actually closely followed the book, which was nice.  SPOILER ALERT:  So, of course, I knew that, toward the end of the book, Marley had to be put down, very sad.  I thought that I would be able to handle it, since I knew it was coming.  However, I did NOT handle it well.

I had just met Dan and his parents for dinner in West Linn, and was driving home in my own car when I got to the part where Marley went to the veterinarian to be put to sleep.  I pulled into the driveway, and was sitting in my car sobbing, listening as John Grogan retold the story of losing his beloved dog, Marley.  Dan and his parents pulled in the driveway behind me, and Dan got out of the car, and walked up to my window, wondering why I was still sitting there with the engine running.  He saw me bawling my eyes out, and turned to his parents, and called out, "Marley died!"  I had to laugh.  It was such a sad moment of the book though.

Regardless of the sad parts, this was an absolutely fantastic book, and as a dog owner and dog lover, I could totally relate to it, and loved it!